Italy: Schedule for Sanremo 2016 released

The dates and format for Sanremo Festival 2016 has been announced by the Italian broadcaster, RAI. Five nights will be dedicated to find the winner, with the right to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm. It's all happening between 9 February and 13 February 2016

The Italian broadcaster RAI has released the schedule for the popular Italian competition Sanremo next year. The winner of Sanremo 2016 has the right to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm.

Sanremo 2016 schedule

Sanremo will take place in one week in February, from Tuesday to Saturday:

9 February 2016 - Heat 1

10 February 2016 - Heat 2

11 February 2016 - Covers night

12 February 2016 - Semi-final

13 February 2016 - Final

Heat 1 & 2 (Tuesday and Wednesday): 20 acts will compete in the "Campioni" (Big Artist) section, divided into two heats with nine acts each. Public televoting combined with votes from the press decides who advances to the semi-final.

Covers night (Thursday):The 20 acts will interpret known songs. The winner of this evening wins a special prize.

Semi-final (Friday):The 20 acts will compete for a place in the final on Saturday. 13 acts will qualify directly decided by public televoting combined with votes from the press. One of the 7 acts that didn't make it to the final will get a wildcard to the final.

Final (Saturday)The 14 qualified acts will perform, and the winner is again decided by public televoting combined with votes from the press. The winner will hereafter decide whether to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm. If the winner recline to go to Stockholm, then the broadcaster RAI selects another act to represent Italy in Stockholm.

Sanremo

Sanremo is the "Mother of Eurovision". When the first Eurovision Song Contest was held in 1956, it was based on the format of the excisting Sanremo Music Festival. This years Sanremo will be the 66th edition of the competition. The "Campioni" (Big Artist) section includes 20 established Italian artists with a song each. Winner of the "Campioni" is eligible to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

Eurovision 2016 will be Italy's 42nd contest. They have won twice, in 1964 with the song "Non Ho L'étà" and in 1990 with "Insieme: 1992". Worst result was in 1966 where they went last. Most known song is "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" or better known as "Volare" from 1958. It is also the most covered Eurovision Song Contest song. The song has been covered by famous stars such as Dean Martin, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many more...

Italy had a long pause from Eurovision Song Contest from 1998 to 2010. Since then Italy has been a "Big-5"-country, automatically qualified for every years Grand Final.